critical commentary on adult production

Menu

Review – Evil Angel’s Voracious: Season 1 (2012)

Imagine vampires… but not sparkly vampires or cheesy vampires… Imagine deep dark frightening vampires killing and fucking and struggling with power while riddled with agony and torment. Voracious.

Here’s the basic synopsis:

Dripping with blood, sweat and cum.

Under the Victory Column in Berlin, barely hidden from view, a priest offers guidance to a tormented vampire. Manuel arrives in search of Amira, his true love salvation, only to find that perversion and priesthood go hand in hand.

Amiras’s doubts about being a vampire are brought to the attention of Vlad. He has just returned from killing a rogue vampire.

Our confused Amira knows one thing with the force of all her ex-humanity, she will not give up! Unfortunately, anything that threatens the survival of our vampire clan will be eliminated by Vlad in the most gruesome way.

That synopsis text leaves a little too much mystery, so here’s more from AVN:

“Voracious” awaits devotees of John Stagliano’s fetish-laden, sexually intense cinema as well as fans of Gothic porn. The fashionably vampire-themed movie, shot in Budapest, Berlin and Los Angeles, is composed of 10 individual episodes [each running approximately 30 – 60 minutes and featuring at least one very elaborate sex scene].

A host of Evil Angel directors and performers helped bring Stagliano’s vision to fruition, including Manuel Ferrara, Rocco Siffredi, Omar Galanti, David Perry and Steve Holmes. Galanti plays the lead vampire in an almost superhuman performance, and starlets Brooklyn Lee and Lea Lexis were instrumental in the creation of the movie—Lexis was Stagliano’s co-producer in Budapest.

Describing some of the action in “Voracious,” the director known as “Buttman” says, “For sure there is lots of ass play, but this is not at all like a Buttman movie in terms of style.” He refers to his award-winning, hardcore fetish-fashion trilogy when he adds, “I wanted to do another feature film like ‘Fashionistas.’” (here)

(there’s also an excellent gallery on AVN here… some of the images in this review were pulled from it)

Basically, we have three intertwined stories running throughout Season 1 – Amira, played exquisitely by Brooklyn Lee, is struggling with her fading humanity because, unlike other vampires, she somehow still maintains a shred of it. Not surprisingly, the leaders of Amira’s clan are looking to purge her of that final glimmer of sun. At the same time, anthropologist Manuel Batiste (Manuel Ferrara) is searching for Amira, who he met accidentally on purpose, while trying to understand the mysterious Father Zoltan’s connection to the undead.

Finally, a more senior vampire – Adrianna (played perfectly by former Romanian gymnast Lea Lexis) – is scheming a coup d’état with the very same Father in the hopes of overthrowing the clan leaders. This story line has an interesting gender/power dynamic woven into it, and it’s interesting to consider the vampire men being overtaken by Adrianna and her league of women “blood slaves.”

The whole project is fucking scary. And thrilling and brutal and disturbingly sexy.

(pictured: Brooklyn and Lea as Amira and Adrianna – amazing)

Some things…

AVN’s description of the performances (above) is not exaggerated. As I said, Brooklyn and Lea were amazing; and Omar Galanti was almost disturbingly perfect. He honestly embodied every bit of vampire horror I had ever conceived of.

Further, the series is shot brilliantly, in a shadowy smeary manner that invoked classic gothic horror thrillers like The Exorcist (1973), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and The Omen (1976). Though I found it difficult to follow the plot at moments, the “look” of the episodes/film was very purposeful and added to the project’s intensity.

And speaking of intensity, you can learn all about how the intensity was created by watching the ‘BTS and Extras’ footage – an entire disc that details so much of the work that went into this project. I was riveted, especially because (like always) I want to hear what the performers have to say… particularly in the context of something as elaborate and as hard as Voracious.

(pictured: Lea Lexis as Adrianna)

The sex in this series is not for porn amateurs, nor is it for the faint of heart. It is almost wholly comprised of “extreme” depictions typical of Evil Angel productions, with the levels turned up even further via the theatrical and bondage elements (blood and bites and clamps and whatnot). And I admit that the face fuck scene in Episode 5 between Brooklyn’s Amira and Rocco Siffredi’s Vlad was almost too much for me… though her icy eyes throughout were just incredible.

Here’s the series’ trailer, emphasizing Episode 1… it doesn’t do it justice.

(you can find trailers for the other Voracious episodes on Evil Angel’s YouTube channel here)

If this level of content and sort of production interests you, I highly recommend Voracious. The Evil Angelic play with social and cultural hot-button issues and folklore pushed the boundaries of porn and filmmaking… and vision.